149 Before the Second Round of Playoffs

At the moment the game whistle blew, Travis Outlaw rushed into the court excitedly, and Channing Fry raised his right hand and shouted wildly.

The Trail Blazers bench was full of applause and laughter, Aldridge excitedly clenched his fist, and Zhang Jun and his teammates clapped hands one by one.

Rockets.

Yao Ming and McGrady were reluctant to leave. They looked at the Portland fans celebrating with a bad taste in their eyes.

Francis didn't walk to the Rockets' players' bench until this time during the entire series and hugged his former teammates.

Francis patted Yao Ming on the shoulder.

"You played beautifully in this series, Yao."

Yao Ming smiled helplessly, stretched out his hand and shook hands with Francis, saying: "No, I didn't play well. If I could be like O'Neal and face the double-team on the court, the ending would not be like this."

"But I want to congratulate you for making it to the second round of the Western Conference."

Francis couldn't help but smile. Yao Ming was probably the only one who could congratulate his opponent on his victory after losing the series.

In fact, this is the second time Francis has made the playoffs in his career. Even as a former Western Conference All-Star player, this is only the second time he has stood on the playoff stage, and he is still a complete veteran player.

"You should go to a championship team, Steve." Yao Ming suddenly said.

Francis knew why the other party said that, because he is already 31 years old, and his competitive state on the court is not as good as before. What he should do most now is to join a championship team to win the championship, and then perfectly end his basketball career.

"But you know, I still have a contract, I am still a member of the Trail Blazers, and I still have the task of helping young players grow."

"And I like the locker room environment of the Trail Blazers. This team has been winning. I like this winning environment very much, which is much better than when I was in the New York Knicks."

Yao Ming nodded. This Trail Blazers team has indeed emerged this season and caught all the Western teams off guard.

"I am afraid that starting from this season, this Trail Blazers team will become a very strong team in the West."

At this time, Zhang Jun also walked over here. He smiled at Yao Ming and the two hugged and greeted each other.

Although the two were direct competitors on the court, Yao Ming blocked Zhang Jun, and Zhang Jun also dunked Yao Ming three times without mercy, but when the whistle sounded and the series ended, they were still good friends.

"I wish you good luck in the playoffs." Yao Ming said sincerely.

Zhang Jun patted Yao Ming on the shoulder and said, "What about you?"

Yao Ming said, "I will rush back to China as soon as possible to prepare for the upcoming Olympics. I am the host of this Olympics. I will work hard to prepare for the Chinese men's basketball team to create miracles at home."

It can be seen that Yao Ming attaches more importance to the Chinese team than the NBA. Zhang Jun knows that this is not an easy road to take, so he just patted him encouragingly and didn't say much.

McGrady hugged Zhang Jun hard.

"You and Yao were communicating in Chinese the whole time. I don't know what you were talking about."

Zhang Jun smiled and said, "We were talking about how to get you and him to the Trail Blazers."

McGrady cursed unhappily, "Fuck you."

The shouts of MVP from Portland fans continued. Zhang Jun waved and greeted the fans. Finally, he excitedly took off his jersey and gave it to a beautiful female fan.

Locker room.

Coach Nate McMillan was poured a bucket of ice water by James Jones, and Monty Williams was not spared.

Jarrett Jack and Steve Blake were dancing excitedly in the locker room, and Joel Przybilla was singing the latest popular Taylor Swift song.

"Hey, guys, be quiet and listen to me." Nate McMillan interrupted the celebrating players and said, "We won this series. We defeated the powerful Rockets with our tenacious fighting spirit and perseverance, but the playoffs are not over yet." "Our fight will continue." "The series between the Hornets and the Suns has not yet been decided. One of them will become our opponent." "The Suns are a veteran team, and the Hornets are a strong young team like us." "In short, they are both teams that are no weaker than the Rockets, so we must cheer up and be fully prepared." Hearing this, everyone looked solemn. These two teams were once opponents that the Trail Blazers only looked up to, but now they can stand on the same playoff court with each other. This is honor and pressure. Zhang Jun stretched out his hand, and all his teammates gathered tacitly. Nate McMillan and Monty Williams also put their hands on it. Zhang Jun did not explain or say harsh words, but just shouted their slogans. "Trail Blazers!"

"Tear Up!"

..........

Western Division.

The Lakers defeated the Mavericks 4:0 and advanced to the second round of the Western Conference in advance. They also became the first team to enter the next round among all the playoff teams.

In this way, the Lakers players can also get a lot of rest time, and their physical condition will be the best among all the teams in the second round.

The Spurs defeated the Jazz 4:1, and the Trail Blazers defeated the Rockets 4:1. The two teams became the second tier, and each had good rest time to prepare for the second round.

Now all the teams in the Western Conference are waiting for the result between the Suns and the Hornets. The two teams also played 2:3. The Hornets won the fierce battle of Tianwangshan and the qualifying situation is very good.

Eastern Division.

The Hawks actually pulled back two games in a row and tied with the Celtics 2:2 after losing the first two games. This scene shocked everyone, even Atlanta's own fans were scared. He jumped and said frankly that he didn't expect his team to be so strong and even compete with the Celtics.

You must know that before the start of this series, all fans and media reporters generally believed that this would be a 4:0 series with the Celtics killing everyone. From this moment on, the Big Three were questioned by everyone. .

Fortunately, the Celtics won the battle of Tianwang Mountain and moved the big score to 3:2. However, whether they can win later has made everyone skeptical.

The big score between the Cavaliers and Wizards was also 3:2, and the Pistons also led the 76ers 3:2. Only the Magic defeated the Mongolian Dragons 4:1.

The Eastern Conference had three consecutive 3:2 big scores in the first round, and the intensity far exceeded that of the Western Conference.

.........

May 3rd.

The first round of the Eastern and Western Conference playoffs are finally over.

The Hornets defeated the veteran Suns 4:2. Chris Paul's terrifying triple-double of 24 points, 11 rebounds and 15 assists in the last key game helped the team win the game in one fell swoop.

The Celtics in the East surprised everyone by losing Game 6. Fortunately, they defeated the Hawks in the tiebreaker and reached the second round with difficulty.

The Cavaliers defeated the Wizards 4:2. General Gilbert Arenas encountered LeBron James's trash talk on a key free throw in the final period: If you miss the free throw, I will end the game.

It was this trash talk that caused Gilbert Arenas to miss a crucial free throw, helping the Cavaliers and LeBron James have the last laugh.

The Pistons also defeated the 76ers 4:2.

The league office quickly announced the upcoming second round of the playoffs.

West: Lakers vs. Spurs, Trail Blazers vs. Hornets.

East: Celtics vs. Cavaliers, Pistons vs. Magic.

.........

Buckley Show.

Kenny Smith was very curious and said: "First of all, congratulations to the above eight teams for entering the conference semifinals. Among the four upcoming matchups, Charles, which matchup are you most optimistic about, and which team are you optimistic about successfully advancing to the conference finals? "

Barkley thought for a while and then said seriously: "The battle between the Lakers and the Spurs must be very classic. The showdown between the OK team and the Spurs twin towers was once exciting."

"Now this is a new Lakers team led by Kobe Bryant, and this Spurs team is pretty much the same Spurs team that they were."

"This is a big challenge for the Lakers and Kobe. Kobe wants to prove that he can succeed without O'Neal, so now is the best opportunity."

"O'Neal led the Lakers to defeat this powerful opponent, and now it's his turn."

"Then there's the youth battle between the Hornets and the Trail Blazers."

"Both teams are very young teams. Chris Paul, the core of the Hornets, was drafted in 2005, and Zhang Jun, the core of the Trail Blazers, was drafted in 2007. Both are young leaders, so this will become a A tough battle.”

Kenny Smith couldn't help but chuckle and said: "Don't beat around the bush for me, Charles, just tell me who do you like more among these two Western Conference matchups."

Barkley pretended to be serious and instantly broke through the defense. He also smiled and said: "I think the Spurs will have the last laugh, because they are the defending champions and they have the strength to defeat the Lakers team with Kobe and Gasol."

"I know many people will think that the Lakers' record is better than the Spurs, so they have a greater chance of winning, but in fact the Lakers attach great importance to their record this season, and their core players have played almost all games, while the Spurs' Bob We all know the nature of Mr. Vicki. Duncan almost scored a double-double in the last game, was inexplicably injured in the next game, and then came back to the game with another double-double. "

"The Spurs are not interested in regular season results. What they want is to defend their title this season, so this is a team that has made more preparations for the playoffs. They are ready to defend their title."

"As for the Hornets and Trail Blazers, I think the Hornets should reach the Western Conference Finals, and Chris Paul will touch the Western Conference Finals floor for the first time in his career."

"Don't ask me why, I just want to tell you that the Trail Blazers should not have appeared in the second round. They were able to reach it entirely because of the Rockets' unreasonable lineup and their over-reliance on Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady's play style. If the Rockets had a third ballhandler and a point of attack, the Trail Blazers would have lost."

"Of course, I'm not disparaging this team. They have a lot to praise, especially this year's rookie Zhang Jun, who won the season's scoring title. He will definitely help this team go well in the future. farther."

"But you have to remember that this is a team that has not made it to the playoffs for many years. Whether it is the management, coaching staff or players, they have too little experience in the playoffs, so they will not be the Hornets. opponent."

Kenny Smith nodded. He thought Barkley made sense.

The Trail Blazers did perform very well in the series against the Rockets, but they are far from enough to reach the Western Conference Finals. There may be such hope in the future, but at least they are not ready yet.

Kenny Smith then talked about the Eastern Conference playoffs.

"The Celtics are disappointing, right?"

This is also what everyone said about the Celtics during this period. They actually let the Hawks drag the Hawks to the seventh game. This is really terrible.

Buckley shook his head decisively and objected to this.

"The Celtics met the Hawks led by Joe Johnson in the first round of the playoffs. You must know that this team also has the No. 3 pick Oden who was injured for the season and did not appear, so everyone thought that the Celtics "It's disappointing for the Celtics to go to a tiebreaker against a team like this."

"Hawks head coach Mike Woodson even said bluntly after the game that if their Oden can stand on the stage of the playoffs, his defensive ability and ability to protect the frame in the interior will definitely make the Celtics The team broke up in the first round.”

"I will not comment on this matter for the time being. What I want to tell everyone is that in the four games the Celtics won, the points difference between the Celtics and the Hawks was 23 points, 19 points, and 25 points respectively. and 34 points, all a big win!”

"The average points difference per game has reached a terrifying 25 points, which is the highest among all playoff series!"

Kenny Smith didn't understand and said, "What does this mean? Didn't the Eagles still win three games?"

Barkley said: "This shows that this Celtics team is fully capable of defeating the Eagles. The reason why they allowed their opponents to steal three games is all because of the tacit understanding within the team and their unaccustomed and unaccustomed tactics. Incongruous."

"You have to know that the Celtics' Big Three were only formed this season. This is the first time that Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen have collaborated in the playoffs."

"Before this, they were the bosses of their respective teams, so whenever the game enters a critical moment, they haven't figured out who will attack and who will defend and how to play."

"But after experiencing the playoffs with the Hawks, I believe that the Celtics have found their own way to win, and they will only get stronger."

Kenny Smith reminded: "The next thing the Celtics will face is the Cavaliers with LeBron James. The opponent is the most impactful and intimidating small forward in the league. The Celtics want to start from It’s not easy for them to get over the danger.”

Barkley agrees with this. After all, the Cavaliers were the Eastern Conference champions last season and their strength should not be underestimated.

He said: "If the Celtics can defeat the Cavaliers, then they will have no rivals in the Eastern Conference. If they lose this series, then the gamble made by Celtics general manager Angie last summer will be completely announced. fail."

"They will also reconsider whether to continue to build a lineup around the Big Three, or completely separate the three and start rebuilding again. Of course, there is another possibility, which is to trade away one of the Big Three to help the team rebuild. On Tracks."

It goes without saying that both Barkley and Kenny Smith are the ones the Celtics will most likely trade if they ever get that far.

........